The Bethesda
Blog puts out the call for beta testers, saying they are opening a new
Bethesda Play Test Lab in the Dallas, TX offices of id Software. They say the
first tests will kick off in the coming weeks, and that players will get the
chance to see games before they are released, and possibly get some swag out of
the deal. Word is: "We are looking for people of all skill levels who enjoy
playing games. We’re interested in your feedback, whether you are a person that
only plays games once in a while or the hardcore gamer that plays everything. If
you’re over 18 and in or around the Dallas area, apply at
playtest.bethsoft.com.

dj LiTh wrote on May 3, 2013, 07:31:Both QA and Playtesters will be playing the game and reporting bugs. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

Sigh. Your ignorance of game development is saddening. QA testers don't "play" the game. The objective of "playing" something is to derive entertainment. There's nothing entertaining about trying to find bugs, reproducing them 10 times to determine their consistency, writing a detailed bug report and then eventually trying to reproduce the bug again to verify claimed fixes.

Conversely, playtesters do exactly what their title suggests. They play the game as they would any other game. They are not looking for bugs, they are not testing stability, they aren't trying to break the game and they are not reporting bugs. That's why playtesters exist. QA testers tend to be pretty cynical or apathetic about the games they test because they've been forced to play them a million times (usually in broken states). Playtesters offer a fresh set of eyes and are better representative of the general public. They just play the game naturally while designers watch and take notes.

If you want to get your foot in the industry, you have a much better chance if you're a QA tester. Playtesting isn't a full-time job and it doesn't showcase any talents relevant to game development. Conversely, if you're a QA tester at a dev studio (developer QA is much more likely to be noticed than publisher QA) and you prove your technical aptitude and work ethic, your chances of being promoted into a better position is pretty good. Many developers worked in QA at some point.

dj LiTh wrote on May 2, 2013, 23:09:They're basically asking people to work for free as QA testers.

No they're asking for play testers. Having been a QA tester in a manufacturing company for heavy machinery, we used "work testers" from the various companies that we sold products to. Just to see how they were used, and the various ways people could break things, outside of what engineering thought.

--"For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong." --H.L. Mencken

Who knows, these kinds of things can open the door to a career move. It all depends on what kind of feedback they want and the level of involvement of the testers. If I lived in Dallas I would sure as hell apply and check it out.

There's a huge difference between play testing and QA testing. Play testing is used to get feedback on the overall experience. It's generally limited to the press, friends/family and/or focus groups. QA is used to find and report bugs and verify fixes. While QA can provide feedback, that isn't their job and any feedback they provide will be taken with a grain of salt.